Football throwing trainer

ABSTRACT

A football throwing trainer has a football holder including first and second end caps adapted to fit over the ends of a football. Holder straps connect the first and second end caps and hold the end caps securely onto the ends of the football. A tether is attached to the first end cap and to a belt or cuff. The trainer allows a lone player to practice throwing a football and to easily retrieve the thrown football.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Throwing or passing is an essential skill in football. Improvingfootball throwing skills involves throwing arm strength, accuracy andtiming. The football must also maintain a spiral orientation so that itcan be more easily caught by the intended receiver. As with mostathletic endeavors, perfecting passing ability may take years ofpracticing by throwing a football. Generally, during practice the playerthrows the football to a second player who catches and returns thefootball. Practicing alone, however, is much more time consuming andless useful because the player must spend excessive time retrieving theball after each practice pass.

For throwing practicing with a round ball, such as soccer or baseball, aplayer can use a return net where the ball rebounds back towards theplayer. Unfortunately, rebound nets do not work well for oblong balls,like a football. Due to its oblong shape, a football tends to reboundoff of a return net in a random direction, rather than rebound backtowards the player. Accordingly, there is a need for equipment whichovercomes the disadvantages facing the lone player in practicingthrowing a football.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A football throwing trainer has a football holder including first andsecond end caps adapted to fit over the ends of a football. Holderstraps connect the first and second end caps and hold the end capssecurely onto the ends of the football. A tether is attached to thefirst end cap and to a belt or cuff. The trainer allows a lone player topractice throwing a football and to easily retrieve the thrown football.

In another aspect the end caps may have a central opening and comprise aflexible material and have two, three, four, or more spaced apart arms,with the holder straps attached to the arms of the end caps. The holderstraps may be attached to one of the arms by looping through a strapslot in the arm. The holder straps may be elastic or have an elasticsection.

Other and further aspects will become apparent from the followingdetailed description and the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION TO THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a football throwing trainer.

FIG. 2 is a back perspective view of the trainer shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged back perspective view of the trainer of FIGS. 1and 2 with the belt and tether removed.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged rotated perspective view of the end cap shown inFIGS. 1-3.

FIG. 5 is front view of the end cap shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the trainer shown in FIGS. 1and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a football throwing trainer 10 may bedescribed as having a tether 14 attaching a football holder 16 to a belt12. The belt 12 may be flexible web material, such as leather, fabric,or a synthetic material such as neoprene rubber. The tether 14 may be aflexible line, tube, cable or flat elastic webbing. Generally, at leasta portion of the tether 14 is elastic to allow the tether to stretch inuse. The tether 14 may be provided as multiple elastic sectionsconnected via swivels, or via inelastic sections, or it may be a singlepiece. A first end of the tether 14 is attached to the belt 12,optionally via a belt swivel 34.

The belt 12 may be worn around the player's waist, with the belt havinga length made adjustable via a buckle, clip or via Velcro hook and looptape 24. In an alternative design, the belt 12 may be replaced by a cuffdesigned to be worn on the player's wrist, or attached to a fixed objectsuch as a ground stake or pole.

The holder 16 may include first and second end caps 50, which optionallyare identical. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the end cap 50 may be aflexible material, such as rubber or plastic, typically about 0.5 to 5mm thick. The end cap 50 may have a freestanding three dimensionalshape, as shown in FIG. 4, with a prolate spheroid curvature adapted togenerally match the shape of a standard American collegiate or NFLfootball. The end cap 50 may have arms 60 separated by an arc shapedrecess 66. The arms 60 may have a concave curvature with the recesses 66having an opposite or convex curvature. A central opening 64 may belocated at a center of the end cap 50. The central opening 64 may beround or a square with curved corners. A strap slot 62 may be providedin each of the arms 60. A pair of web support slots 68 may be providedon opposite arms, as shown in FIG. 5. One or more position slots orholes 70 may also be provided in the end cap 50 between adjacent arms.

The slots 62 and 68 are sized and shaped to allow the straps 52 to passthrough the end cap 50. These may be replaced with round openings ifround straps are used rather than the flat straps shown in FIG. 3. Otherthan the web support slots 68 and the position slots 70, if used, theend cap 50 may be symmetrical about its vertical, and horizontalcenterlines. Dimension DD in FIG. 3 in most designs is about 10-16 cm asmeasured with the end cap pressed flat. The end cap may have a heightshown as dimension HH in FIG. 4 of 2.5 to 5 cm when free standing.Although the end cap 50 may be a rigid material, flexible end caps maybetter conform to wider range of football shapes and sizes.

In the example shown, four holder straps 52A, 52B, 52C and 52D are used.The holder straps 52 may be a flat web material, typically an elasticmaterial, or having an elastic section. The front holder strap 52A, maybe split into segments attachable to each other via Velcro hook and looptape, a fastener or a knot. Alternatively the front holder strap 52A maybe made long enough to extend from the first end cap, through a slot inthe second end cap, and then back towards the first end cap, with theholder strap 52A forming a loop attached to itself. The side straps 52Band 52C may extend through the strap slots 62, loop back on tothemselves and may be stitched, adhered or otherwise fastened.

As shown in FIG. 6, the front holder strap 52A and the back holder strap52D may be provided as a single continuous strap, optionally extendingin through the slot openings 62 and out through the web support openings68. cap web section 78 may then be attached onto the holder strap 52A,optionally at front and back inner attachments 80 and front and backouter attachments 82. The cap web section 78 may be the same material asthe straps, and typically is not elastic. The attachments 80 and 82 maybe stitched, adhered or fastened. Also as show in FIG. 6, a cap swivel76 at the outer end of the tether 14 may be attached to the cap websection 78.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the tether 14 may optionally have anintermediate swivel 76, with a non-elastic tether section 74 connectingthe intermediate swivel 76 to the cap swivel 76. If no intermediateswivel 76 is used, then a non-elastic tether section 74 may be attacheddirectly to an elastic tether section connecting to the belt or cuff.The combined weight of the holder 16 and the tether 14 generally is lessthan 500 or 400 grams.

In use, a football 100 is secured within the holder by stretching thestraps momentarily to allow the end caps 50 to be placed over the endsof the football. The elastic tension of the straps, or sections of thestraps, then holds the end caps 50 securely onto the ball. The strapsmay be equally radially spaced apart to secure the ball within theholder on all sides. The straps may be oriented so that the laces of thefootball are spaced apart from the straps. Alternatively, if a split orlooped front strap is used, the front strap may be momentarily opened orloosened, to allow the holder to be more easily installed around theball 100.

The player attaches the belt around the waist, or attaches the cuff tothe wrist. The player then throws the ball 100. As holder and tether arelightweight, their effect on the trajectory of the ball is moderate. Inaddition, since the tether is attached on the longitudinal central axisof the ball, via a swivel, interference with the spiral attitude of theball is reduced. After the ball travels past the nominal length of thetether, the tether stretches, decelerating the ball and ultimatelycausing the ball to reverse direction and recoil towards the player. Theplayer can then easily retrieve the ball by pulling on the tether.Tension forces applied by the tether in decelerating the ball may bedistributed over the web section 78 and the straps 52A and 52D. A secondweb section may be joined perpendicular to the first web section, and tothe side straps 52B and 52C, to further strengthen the ball holder.

As used here, football means any type of oblong ball, such as a footballor a rugby ball. Oblong means the length of the ball is at least 1.4times greater than the maximum diameter of the ball. Elastic orstretchable means easily elongated several centimeters (e.g., 5-10 cm)using nominal hand forces, such as to stretch the holder sufficiently toplace into onto a football. Thus, a novel football throwing trainer hasbeen shown and described. Various changes and substitutions may ofcourse be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. The invention, therefore, should not be limited except by thefollowing claims and their equivalents.

1. A football throwing trainer comprising: a football holder includingfirst and second end caps adapted to fit over the ends of a football,and two or more holder straps connecting the first and second end caps;and a tether having a first end attached to the first end cap, whereinat least a part of each holder strap is stretchable.
 2. The footballthrowing trainer of claim 1 wherein each end cap comprises a flexiblematerial and each end cap has two or more spaced apart arms, with theholder straps attached to the arms of the end caps.
 3. The footballthrowing trainer of claim 2 wherein each holder strap is attached to anarm by looping it through a strap slot in the arm.
 4. (canceled)
 5. Thefootball throwing trainer of claim 1 with the first end cap having acentral opening, adapted to allow an end of a football in the holder toproject through the central opening.
 6. The football throwing trainer ofclaim 1 further including a waist belt, with a second end of the tetherattached to the waist belt.
 7. The football throwing trainer of claim 6with the tether having a non-stretchable section and a stretchablesection, the non-stretchable section attached to the first end cap, thestretachable section having a first end and a second end, the first endattached to the non-stretchable section, and the second attached to thebelt.
 8. The football throwing trainer of claim 6 further including aswivel attached to the tether.
 9. The football throwing trainer of claim1, wherein the two or more holder straps are four holder straps, with atleast one of the holder straps having an adjustable length.
 10. Thefootball throwing trainer of claim 9 with at least three of the holderstraps permanently attached to the first and second end caps.
 11. Thefootball throwing trainer of claim 1, wherein the two or more holderstraps are four parallel holder straps, each strap having first andsecond ends, the first end connected to an arm on the first end cap andthe second end connected to an arm on the second end cap.
 12. Thefootball throwing trainer of claim 1 with each end cap pre-formed into athree dimensional shape having a height that is at least 25% of thewidth and at least 25% of the length of the end cap.
 13. A footballthrowing trainer comprising: first and second end caps each having threeor more spaced apart arms; a plurality of parallel holder strapsconnecting the first and second end caps; and a tether having a firstend and a second end, the first end attached to the first end cap via aswivel, the second end attached to a belt, wherein a first strap slot isformed through a first one of the arms of the first end cap, a secondstrap slot is formed through a second one of the arms of the first endcap, the two or more holder straps include a first strap and a secondstrap, the first strap extends through the first strap slot and loopsback onto itself, and the second strap extends through the second strapslot and loops back onto itself.
 14. The football throwing trainer ofclaim 13 with each end cap comprising a flexible material that has afreestanding three dimensional shape that includes the three or morespaced apart arms.
 15. (canceled)
 16. The football throwing trainer ofclaim 13, wherein a third strap slot is formed through a third one ofthe arms of the first end cap, a fourth strap slot is formed a fourthone of the arms of the first end cap, the two or more holder strapsfurther include a front holder strap and a back holder strap, the frontholder strap and the back holder strap form a single continuous strapthat extends through the third strap slot and the fourth strap slot, andthe first end of the tether is attached to the single continuous strap,which is attached to the first end cap.
 17. The football throwingtrainer of claim 16, wherein first end of the tether is attached to theswivel, which is attached to single continuous strap, which is attachedto the first end cap.
 18. The football throwing trainer of claim 1,wherein each holder strap is a flat web material having an elasticsection.
 19. A football throwing trainer comprising: a football holderincluding first and second end caps adapted to fit over the ends of afootball, each of the first and second end caps having a freestandingthree dimensional shape that includes two or more spaced apart arms thatsupport a central area of the end cap, and football holder furtherincluding two or more holder straps, each holder strap respectivelyconnecting one of the arms of the first end cap to one of the arms ofthe second end cap; and a tether having a first end attached to thefirst end cap.
 20. The football throwing trainer of claim 19, wherein afirst strap slot is formed through one of the arms of the first end cap,a second strap slot is formed through another one of the arms of thefirst end cap, the two or more holder straps include a first strap and asecond strap, the first strap extends through the first strap slot andloops back onto itself, and the second strap extends through the secondstrap slot and loops back onto itself.
 21. The football throwing trainerof claim 19, wherein a strap slot is formed through each arm of thefirst end cap, the two or more holder straps includes a front holderstrap and a back holder strap, the front holder strap and the backholder strap form a single continuous strap that extends through two ofthe strap slots, and the first end of the tether is attached to thefirst end cap via the single continuous strap.
 22. The football throwingtrainer of claim 19, further comprising a waist belt or a wrist cuff,and a second end of the tether is attached to the waist belt or wristcuff.